Interviewee : Edward K. Quibell, President, First Data Health Systems International
Interviewer : Michael Kidd
This interview was conducted during HIC'93 in Brisbane and forms part of a series of interviews with visiting international health informaticians.
MK: "What do you think is the most important area of informatics in healthcare today?"
EQ: "The computerised patient record (CPR). Basically the whole industry is moving towards the development of the ultimate CPR. This is certainly the strategy being followed by the First Data Corporation. We believe this has to happen."
MK: "How?"
EQ: "The big advantage has been the development of the methodology of bringing disparate systems together; this is now possible. We want to be the key vendor and bring people who have developed various components together. There is no longer the need for one vendor developing the whole system."
MK: "Sure."
EQ: "Therefore core vendors will control activities by tying in systems and communications together. The CPR is now clinically based and can give doctors and other health professionals the information they need to manage their patients."
MK: "Sounds exciting."
EQ: "Yep. We are currently facing industry driven change now that the technology constraints are being removed. First Data Corporation has invested $30,000,000 in CPR - specifically in developing a Unix based relational windows environment. Medical experts have been involved in the design and user interface. We have a major focus on clinician workstations. Also multimedia is essential if a product is to be successful today so we have audio and graphics. We also use a variety of user interfaces such as pen-based, touchscreen, keyboard and mouse."
MK: "So what are the main issues facing your company in the development of CPR?"
EQ: "The first is storage of data. Optical sto-rage is crucial, especially for medical records. The second crucial issue is feeder systems - the capture and analysis of data."
MK: "So should we be looking forward to a future of paperless hospitals?"
EQ: "Not 'paper free' - rather 'paper reduced'. It is a continuing process to tie in with existing systems. Having said that, there is a hospital being designed in Scotland which will be totally paperless. In fact it is being designed with no medical record storage facilities."
MK: "So what lessons can the rest of the world learn from the health informatics developments here in Australia?"
EQ: "Australia has excellent community based health resources. The Area based model in New South Wales could be a useful structure for future healthcare develop-ments in the United States. CPR must be applicable to community-based health care delivery as well."
MK: "So Australia could be showing America the way to go?"
EQ: "Sure - why not."
